The yellow lab woke up a 13-year old boy, who ran downstairs to alert his sleeping mother and younger brother.

All three and the dog made it out safely.

“If the dog wouldn’t have alerted them, I truly believe there’s no way they get out of that building because it happened so fast and that fire ran through that building so fast.” Stratton said. “The dog was a hero here.”

Stratton said the fire started in an outside trash can that had hot embers in it. He says wind gusts of up to 25 miles an hour helped whip up the fire and cause it to spread to the house.

Damage estimated at up to $400,000.

Stratton tells the newspaper there was a lot of fire and smoke coming out of the walkup basement in the back of the house.

He says the homeowner had been sleeping downstairs, and that when the dog woke up her son, her son woke her up. The two of them and another son escaped safely, the Tribune reported.